Mildenhall Fen Tigers 41 Cradley Heathens 48

With only pride to race for following a heavy defeat in the first leg, the Fen Tigers again failed to beat Cradley at the third time of asking this season at West Row.

A series of falls when in point scoring positions did not help the home side’s cause with flying reserve Jack Kingston the worst offender.

With Simon Lambert, drafted in to replace Steve Worrall, and Paul Starke in fine form it took to heat seven before the Fen Tigers claimed a race winner when Kingston and partner Joe Jacobs combined for a 5-1 to drag the home side back into the meeting. Kingston then followed up again in Heat eight as the Fen Tigers pulled to within two of the visitors.

It was nip and tuck from then on until a heat 13 5-1 from Captain Dan Halsey and Jacobs brought the scores level at 39-39. With all to play for the meeting turned into a disaster for the Fen Tigers in the space of a couple of minutes. First Kingston gated ahead of partner Brendan Johnson only to lose control and fall on the fourth bend, the resulting exclusion leaving Mildenhall with only one rider in the re-run. This time as all three riders entered the third bend in a line,

Phillips on the outside came down. A difficult call went the way of the visitors with this time Johnson being excluded. This left the two Heathens Perry and Phillips to ride round for a 5-1 to seal the victory. A 4-2 to the visitors in the final race put further daylight between the sides, with Cradley running out winners 48-41.

After the meeting Club Chairman Kevin Jolly was in reflective mood - he said: “I felt we made too many mistakes today and were responsible for our own downfall again. Riders getting into good positions is no good if they cannot see out the race to it’s conclusion. The track was difficult with the weather yesterday evening but that is no excuse as it is the same for both sides. I would like to congratulate Cradley who without doubt deserved their win over the two legs.

“Overall it has been a decent season, a vast improvement on 2013 and it leaves us with plenty to build on for 2015. There have been highs and lows and the injury situation hasn’t helped us, but we will be looking for a team of riders next season who are young, hungry and really want to wear the Fen Tigers race jacket”

Team Manager Robert Henry added - “If I was doing end of season reports there would have been a few ‘could have done betters’ along with some ‘well done’s’, hopefully next season will see another exciting year for the club with the 2015 Fen Tigers.

I would like to add that I was disappointed that the riders did not go round and acknowledge the supporters after the meeting. I apologise on behalf of the club as this is not good enough, our support has been second to none this season again and this should have happened!”

Scorers

Mildenhall 41 - Jacobs 12+1 (5 rides), Greenwood (G) 7+1 (5), Kingston 7+1 (6), Halsey 5+2 (5), Johnson 5+1 (5) and Mountain 5+1 (4)

Cradley - 48 - Starke 13 (5), Lambert (G) 9 (5), Clegg 9 (4), Phillips 6+2 (5), Perry 6+1 (4) and Dwyer 3 (4)

Following the meeting Paul Starke beat Joe Jacobs to take the Bronze Helmet in the absence of teammate Steve Worrall.